Fishing Fort Lauderdale on Happy Day Today with Capt. Zsak
The second annual Christmas fishing party was held aboard the Happy Day Today for Dan Duhamel, owner of Paul’s Boat Lines in Ontario,
www.paulsboatcruises.com along with his five captains, Rob, Fred, Louis, Scott and Fred. They chartered the Happy Day Today, along with the Topshotfishing team to do some deep sea sport fishing out of Fort Lauderdale, FL.
As I greeted all the captains when coming on board, we discussed the type of fishing we were going to do today. They were planning a fish fry tonight before leaving to go back home tomorrow, so our plan of attack was to capture Mahi Mahi’s. Winds today were out of the east at 10 mph, seas 2-3 ft., temperatures were in the mid-70’s, blue skies, a perfect change from the snow and frigid weather up north.
Fifteen minutes after leaving the dock, lines were in the water at the sea buoy in Fort Lauderdale located in 120 ft. of water. Due to our extreme drop off, you venture off another ¼ of a mile and you will reach the depth of 500 ft. We started out fishing with two #8 plainers both with double hook Bonito strips with sea witches in front. For surface baits we went with four Ballyhoos and a Ballyhoo daisy chain teaser.
Our first couple of fish were Kingfish, both of them on plainers. From there I ventured off a little further to the east of Fort Lauderdale and found some scattered weeds in 280 ft. of water. I could see a couple of birds working the scattered weeds. We caught a Black Fin Tuna in this area. I kept trolling around, and a black shadow (Sailfish) appeared on the teaser. Mark, our mate, dropped back a Ballyhoo to the Sailfish which showed no interest and faded off. From there we ran across a floating piece of lumber where the Mahi Mahi’s were hiding under. As I made my first tack past the lumber, a good size Mahi Mahi came charging the teaser and ripped off two of the Ballyhoos from the teaser. From there he made his mistake by eating the Ballyhoo from the rigger. One of the captains hopped into the chair to fight the Mahi Mahi; he brought the Mahi Mahi to the side of the boat and Mark gaffed the 16 lb. Cow Mahi Mahi and put it in the fish box. From there we kept trolling picking away at some Mahi Mahi’s and throwing back the smaller ones. Total Mahi Mahi’s caught was six.
With plenty of the catch for their fish fry, the captains retired to the a/c salon for the trip back to the dock at Bahia Mar 801 Seabreeze Blvd. Fort Lauderdale 33316. At the dock, Mark filet all the catch. As Dan walked off the boat, he shooked my hand and said, “We will see you for our 3rd annual fishing trip next year.”
For a successful and adventurous deep sea fishing charter Fort Lauderdale FL for Sailfish, Shark, Bonito, Mackerel, Swordfish, Snapper, Wahoo, Tuna, Mahi Mahi and Grouper contact Captain Zsak. - 954-309-7457 or email us at tzsak@bellshouth.net Website:
www.topshotfishing.com.
